Ura's Dream- a chance to support animals in a different way

John Walker- the chairman of Macquarie group of Korea has published his second children's book, with a young moon bear-Ura" - as its central character.

This follows the first book -Ura's World- which introduced us to the new born Ura and his two feathered friends-Gaachi, the young Korean magpie, and the bespectacled and wise old eagle ,Doc Suri.

Whilst Ura's World was set in summer Ura's Dream takes place in winter when bears in the wild actually hibernate. Ura's latest adventures then are actually dreams he has throughout the long winter.These dreams include dancing with fireflies, visiting a family of tigers far in the north and eating berry ice cream with a red fox.

As always Ura is a little clumsy and accident prone and we are reminded of the great singing and dancing talents of the baby moon bear.

The book is published in English but has a Korean translation included.This is designed to assist children who are learning English and children who are learning Korean. Ura's Dream is beautifully illustrated with John's niece, the talented Heejung Sohn, again being the artist.The pictures give the reader a great sense of the beauty of the Korean mountains and the near extinct animals who Ura meets. Some of the illustrations are drawn from ancient Korean legends and reflect traditional paintings, such a tiger smoking a pipe.

Consistent with the first book there is a subtle message for young children about the importance of respecting animals and the environment and also, as was the case with Ura's World, all of the profit from the book will be donated to environmental groups and animal welfare groups. Recipients of donations to date have been GreenKorea (GKU), Korean Mountain Preservation League (KMPL) and Animals Asia (AAF). The Macquarie Foundation matches the donations made by John dollar for dollar which doubles the benefit created by the book itself.

John is hoping that his new book sells out quickly so that he can print more and make many more donations. He is also hoping this books reawakens interest in Ura's World so that this can also be reprinted as it is now sold out.

The book was launched on World Animals Day 2010-October 4- at a party attended by a broad cross section of people including Government officials, bankers, business people, monks and actors.The party included a speech by the Korean World Animal Day Ambassador, Gina Moon.

It would certainly be wonderful to see Ura's Dream become a best seller through great sales so that John could see his own dream of a better world for animals come true in some small way.""

Following are some of the locations where you an obtain a copy of Ura's Dream: Kyobo, YoungPung and Bandi & Lunis BookstoresOnline sources are Aladin, YES 24 and Interpark (all of the sites are in Korean only, however).